This document summarizes the key findings of Ernst & Young's HR practices survey conducted in 2008 in collaboration with the National HR Development Network. The survey received responses from 188 organizations across 15 industry sectors. The survey found that HR is increasingly involved in strategic business planning. It also found that performance-linked pay is becoming more prevalent and transparency in compensation practices needs to be improved. Additionally, talent acquisition continues to be a priority and employer branding is an important aspect of attracting suitable candidates. Developing leadership skills and strengthening performance management were also highlighted as areas of focus. The way forward discussed automating more HR processes, increasing workplace flexibility, measuring training effectiveness, and strengthening diversity and feedback programs. In conclusion, the

1. ‘HR’s Next Agenda’
Ernst & Young - NHRD
HR Practices Survey 2008
N S Rajan
Regional President, NHRD (North)
Partner, Human Capital, E&Y

2. Contents
► About the Survey
► Our Approach
► Key Findings
► Way Forward
► About Ernst & Young
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Ernst & Young - NHRD HR Practices Survey, 2008

3. About the survey
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Ernst & Young - NHRD HR Practices Survey, 2008

4. About the survey
► ‘HR’s Next Agenda’ - The Ernst & Young NHRD HR Practices Survey, 2008 is the first
of its kind study of the people practices in India
► Objectives of the Survey:
► The survey is intended to study the state of HR practices and the upcoming priorities of HR in
India with a view to
► Create a baseline of current practices
► Provide directional guidance to the trends shaping the HR function
► Scope of the Survey:
► HR systems, processes and practices around Organization Vision, Mission & Values,
Recruitment, Performance Management, Training & Development, Career Development,
Compensation & Benefits, Rewards & Recognition etc were studied
► The survey coverage extended to Organizations with varying employee strength, turnover and
industry sectors
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5. About the survey
► 188 Organizations across 15 Industry Sectors responded to the survey
Industry Sectors Respondents Industry Sectors Respondents
Automotive 7 IT/ITes 44
Banking/ Financial Services/ 14 Media and Entertainment 8
Insurance
Professional Services 15
Chemicals and Petroleum 8
Real Estate 9
Consumer Goods 8
Electronics/ Technology 10 Retail 11
Healthcare and 10 Telecommunication 7
Pharmaceuticals
Industrial Products 16 Travel and Tourism 5
Infrastructure 16
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6. Our Approach
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Ernst & Young - NHRD HR Practices Survey, 2008

7. Our Approach
► The survey was carried out in the following phases:
Administration
Design Phase Analysis Phase
Phase
►A stratified sampling methodology was adopted to identify participating
organizations across 15 industries on the basis of type of industry, size and
turnover of organizations
►A focused online questionnaire was developed to capture responses across
various fields of HR
► The responses received to date were then collated and analyzed on the basis of
the Survey Framework
► Dataobtained was also supplemented by qualitative insights from select senior
HR professionals who were interviewed
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8. Key Findings
 How has the business environment changed? What
are the trends that we foresee?
 Are Indian organizations more surefooted on the
global business stage?
 What are the expectations that business has from
HR professionals?
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9. HR Strategy and Processes
► HR has a prominent seat at the table and is extensively involved in the strategic
business planning process (90 % )
► Large organizations believe that HR adds critical value to the achievement of
business results (100%)
► Line managers involvement in HR strategy and implementation is high and will
continue to increase (80 %)
► Limited focus on increasing effectiveness of HR processes ( 40%)
HR’s next agenda:
 Partner with business to reduce cost and improve efficiency
 Increasing accountability of HR with 65% of the organizations planning to
introduce effective measures of performance for HR
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10. HR Strategy and Processes
HR has evolved
into making or breaking a business.
This change has made HR into
a business facilitator.
Aquil Busrai
IBM
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11. Compensation and Benefits
► Increments unlikely to be beyond 8 -10% in the coming year
► Performance linked pay taking significant precedence impacting even junior levels (from
5% of CTC in 2002 to 12-15% currently)
► Financial Services has the highest incidence of short term performance pay
► Chemicals & Petroleum industry is high on benefits
► More transparency required in compensation practices (>50%)
► Low prevalence of Long term Incentives like ESOP
HR’s next agenda:
 Strong variability - link between business performance & pay
 A Standard Global Compensation system across geographies
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12. Compensation and Benefits
Transparency is not about putting up
compensation structures on the website.
Employees must know that things happen here
in a fair and equitable manner.
Satish Pradhan
Tata Sons
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13. Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding
► Internal recruitment preferred to external recruitment
► Positive corporate reputation biggest draw for hiring suitable talent (100%)
► Well defined Employee Value Proposition highly co-related with organization size
(especially for those with employee strength exceeding 1000)
► New hire coaching and mentoring more prevalent in Retail, Consumer goods and Health
care
► Hiring to continue despite economic slowdown (with 70% of organizations agreeing)
HR’s next agenda:
 Focus on Employer Branding- Internal focus to ensure employee experience as per
brand promise, External Communication Cells to build compelling stories of
employer value proposition to key stakeholders
 Strengthening Campus Relations Program through campus ambassadors
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14. Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding
The real challenge is
how to attract specialized talent,
together with
building solid employee engagement.
Anand Nayak
ITC
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15. Performance Management and Measurement
► Individual goals not well aligned to business goals (70%)
► Communication of performance feedback and ratings to employees are areas of
improvement (70% )
► Normalization of Ratings – important practice for rationalizing ratings and maintaining
costs (80% )
► PMS Linkages to bonus highest in Financial Services; to training highest in Consumer
goods; to career management highest in IT/ITES
HR’s next agenda:
• Increased used of the Balanced Scorecard
• Development of Reviewer coaching skills for providing relevant feedback and
impartial ratings
 Automation of Processes through web based PMS
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16. Performance Management and Measurement
Performance is an equally important
part of the equation.
Pay for performance can work
only if both ends receive equal attention.
Santrupt Misra
Aditya Birla Group
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17. Training and Development
► No budget cuts expected in Training and Development Activities over the next 1 year,
time spent on training to increase (78%)
► Well defined training policy and training needs identification at all levels (70 %)
► Competency based needs identification and development still an area of gap ( 52 %)
► Organizations unable to determine ROI on Development spend, employees unclear on
what skills they are expected to learn
► IT enablement of Training program management lacking
HR’s next agenda:
 “Action Learning” – On the Job training programs to replace classroom learning
 Measuring effectiveness of training programs
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18. Training and Development
In the context
of decreasing capital investment
and increasing employee costs,
HR needs to drive the supply agenda.
K Ramkumar
ICICI
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19. Leadership Development
► Only a third of identified future leaders satisfied with organizational support for their
development
► In larger organizations, leadership identified as a core competency
► Smaller organizations introducing measures to strengthen their succession planning
process
► Chemicals and Petroleum, Electronics and Technology and Health care and
Pharmaceutical industries indicate that top management considers leadership as a
critical process (70%)
HR’s next agenda:
 Task forces of top performers across the hierarchy to work closely with the CEO
on all critical business projects
 Increased investment in leadership development initiatives
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20. Leadership Development
Leadership style should be conducive
and enabling towards strategy,
not a constraint
Arvind Agrawal
RPG
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21. Organization Culture
► Information flow takes place in all directions in most organizations (60%)
► Larger the organization, greater is the emphasis on communication and feedback
mechanisms
► Involvement of employees in decision making low (75%)
► Confidence and trust in subordinates is an issue (60%)
► Grievance redressal and whistle blower policies need strengthening (70%)
HR’s next agenda:
 Increased empowerment through delegation
 Strengthen diversity programs and alternate talent pool programs
 Idea portals to collect employee feedback and provide it directly to the leadership
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22. Organization Culture
Construct the social reality,
shape values,
and attend
to the drama and vision
of the organization.
P Dwarakanath
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23. Way Forward
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24. Way Forward
► A snapshot of some of the interesting insights captured as part of the way forward for HR:
Cost
Efficiency
Web Based Job
PMS Sculpting
HR
Action Way
Communication
Learning Forward
Centre of
Programs for HR Excellence
Workplace Competency
Flexibility Based PMS
Diversity
Programs
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25. Way Forward
The true role of an HR professional
is to be an alchemist…
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Ernst & Young - NHRD HR Practices Survey, 2008

26. About Ernst & Young
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27. About Ernst and Young
140,000 people | 750 offices | 134 countries | 1 unwavering commitment
Who we are India expertise Human Capital (India)
• >4000 people • Among 5 global “Centers of
People who demonstrate Excellence”
• 139 partners
integrity, respect, and teaming. • >60 senior professionals
• 9 Locations
People with energy, enthusiasm, • Industry expertise - 13 • End-to-end HR value chain
expertise
and the courage to lead. Industry Practices
• Specialists in strategic people
• Domain Expertise -
People who build relationships solutions
Assurance, Tax, Transactions • Strong business
based on doing the right thing
and Advisory Service Lines understanding &
implementation focus
What we stand for • Global delivery experience
At Ernst & Young, we’re Strategy • > 50% - Repeat business
committed to helping our • 90% clients rated us 5/5 on a
people, our clients and our wider Customer Satisfaction index
communities achieve their
Sector
Sector
potential. It’s how we make a Experts
experts
difference.
Value Performance
creation Technology Process improvement
experts experts
We hold the #1 or #2 market position in 7 of our top 10 markets
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28. Our India Offices
Ahmedabad Bangalore Chennai Gurgaon
Shivalik Ishan Building "UB City", Canberra Block TPL House, 2nd floor Golf View Corporate Tower - B
2nd Floor 12th & 13th floor No 3, Cenotaph Road Near DLF Golf Course
Beside Reliance Petrol Pump No.24, Vittal Mallya Road Teynampet Sector 42
Ambavadi Bangalore - 560 001 Chennai - 600 018 Gurgaon - 122002
Ahmedabad - 380015 Tel:+91 80 4027 5000 Tel: +91 44 2431 1440 Tel: +91 124 464 4000
Tel: +91 079 66083800 Fax: +91 80 2210 6000 Fax:+91 44 2431 1450 Fax: +91 124 464 4050
Fax: +91 079 66083900
Hyderabad Mumbai Mumbai Mumbai
205, 2nd floor 6th floor & 18th floor Jalan Mill Compound Jolly Makers Chambers II
Ashoka Bhoopal Chambers Express Towers 95, Ganpatrao Kadam Marg 15th floor, Nariman Point
Sardar Patel Road Nariman Point Lower Parel, Mumbai - 400 021
Secunderabad - 500 003 Mumbai - 400 021 Mumbai - 400 013 Tel : +91 22 6749 8000
Tel: +91 40 2789 8850 Tel: +91 22 6657 9200 (6th floor) Tel: +91 22 4035 6300 Fax : +91 22 6749 8200
Fax: +91 40 2789 8851 +91 22 6665 5000 (18th floor) Fax:+91 22 4035 6400
Fax:+91 22 6630 1222
Kolkata New Delhi Pune
22, Camac Street 6th floor, HT House C-401, 4th floor
Block 'C', 3rd floor 18-20 Kasturba Gandhi Marg Panchshil Tech Park
Kolkata - 700 016 New Delhi - 110 001 Yerwada (Near Don Bosco School)
Tel: +91 33 6615 3400 Tel:+91 11 4363 3000 Pune - 411 006
Fax:+91 33 2281 7750 Fax:+91 11 4363 3200 Tel: +91 20 6601 6000
Fax:+91 20 6601 5900
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